Independent groups, donors to monitor safety net funds

JAKARTA (JP): Following protests over a lack of transparency and suspected corruption in the disbursement of the social safety net fund, the government on Thursday said independent parties and donors would be involved in monitoring the fund to ensure it reached the needy.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and Poverty Eradication Haryono Suyono said after a Cabinet meeting on the safety net fund, led by President B.J. Habibie, that the involvement of donors and independent parties was part of a "quick system of correction". This system will respond to any irregularities found in the distribution of the fund.

This was one of three points the Cabinet agreed on, Haryono said, adding that the Cabinet also heard a presentation from the government-appointed team in charge of monitoring the fund, the Indonesian Committee for Humanity, led by former finance minister Mar'ie Muhammad.

Haryono said the other points agreed on were the simplification of the program and "focusing on targets in line with the latest studies". Caution in distributing the fund resulted in the disbursement of barely 30 percent of the Rp 17.8 trillion allocated for the 1998/1999 fiscal year.

Mar'ie acknowledged a few irregularities in the distribution of the fund. He said that in Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta; Semarang and Bojonegoro, Central Java; and Kerawang, West Java, 23.2 percent of the distributed fund did not reach poor families.

He also confirmed that funds were slow to reach needy elementary and high school students because of "administrative problems".

The limited resources of state-run post office PT Pos Indonesia also contributed to the fund's slow distribution.

"So we suggest that local branches of Bank Rakyat Indonesia again be involved in distribution," he said.

The bank earlier ended its involvement in distributing the fund because of high operating costs.

Mar'ie also urged better coordination among departments to avoid the overlap of labor-intensive projects. He added that it was not necessary to involve subdistrict heads or project officers in project proposals.

Activists have alleged that officials have siphoned off funds meant for the poor, often citing "administrative costs".

Haryono also acknowledged differing views among officials of the social safety net program, adding that Habibie requested ministers come to a common understanding among themselves, planners, supervisors and facilitators.

Mar'ie explained that there was a common view of the basic elements of the safety net program -- food security, health and social security, including education, job creation and the development of small businesses and cooperatives.

However, he said these concepts could be interpreted differently in the allotment of the fund.

Before the Cabinet meeting, Haryono met with executives from the World Bank and the National Development Planning Board, which manages the funds.

The chairman of the board, Budiono, again denied any plans by the World Bank to postpone the allotment of further funds.

Also on Thursday, in an open letter addressed to World Bank president James Wolfenshon, representatives from the International Nongovernmental Organization Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID) urged the World Bank to "postpone the disbursement of the social safety net fund until there is a change of concept, design, target and methodology".

Signatories included Wardah Hafidz, coordinator of the Urban Poor Consortium, which organized recent protests by poor residents of Jakarta demanding transparency in the management and disbursement of the fund.

A source said on Thursday that while officials denied the World Bank had threatened to stop funding the country's social safety net program due to ineffective distribution, there were plans by the bank to postpone delivery of further funds "until the requirements for independent monitoring, complaint mechanisms and transparency of information" were met.

INFID urged the World Bank to avoid "repeating the mistake (of not being critical of government policies) by failing to criticize deficiencies" in the social safety net program. (prb/anr)